My coworker “Bob” is a nice guy. He’s knowledgable about our field (IT), and he cares about his work. There’s just this one thing. I can’t work up much vitriol over it, but I have never had a conversation of any duration with him in which he failed to use the word “leverage” as a verb.
Now, I don’t generally like leveraging “leverage” as a verb, but I can accept that it has a limited value, a shade of meaning you might not get from a simple “use”. Bob, however, never leverages the word “use”. Where a lesser man might recommend “using SQL Server”, Bob will always – and I mean always – suggest that we “leverage” it. Bob does not entertain such mundane ideas as “installing” a new application; Bob ups the ante by leveraging the new application.
Wednesday, I was on a conference call with Bob and several other people. The call lasted about 45 minutes. Bob leveraged one thing or another 10 times. I counted. He used his mighty fulcrum once every 4:30 on average. In today’s 20-minute call with the same group, Bob could only muster two leveragings. Undaunted, and perhaps fearing he wouldn’t make quota, he leveraged Outlook to send a follow-up email, in which he leveraged “leverage” two more times. His email clocked in at a mere 109 words, counting the signature. (I leveraged Word to do a word count.)
Really, Bob, is that entirely necessary? Please, offer to “use” something just once, just to break the monotony. Even “utilize”, a word I hate, would be a welcome relief at this point. I beg you.
I just needed to get that off my chest.
OK, I feel better. So, this is the thread where you can leverage the SDMB to point and laugh at your not-really-Pittable coworkers.